I've had one of these on back order and got shipping notice this week. I'm supposed to have it on Thursday. My son's science fair is that evening so I probably won't have time to pull it out of the box until the weekend. I'll try and post back with my thoughts.

Still haven't told my wife that yet another bike is going to appear at our house.

I couldn't start commuting with it yet as the project I'm working on is at the close out stage and it requires me to move from office to job site, back and forth. However, I took it for a short 8 mile ride on saturday with my son (in his trailer) on tow. I have to say, for the money I spent on it, it seems to be a very good deal. I'm still trying to get used to the strange-to-me shifters of SRAM, but as with most PB bikes it does not seem to be tuned well. I'm getting the odd chain rub even though there is no evident cross chaining. (I will have to check it alone as I noticed that I used to have more chain rub than usual when my son's trailer was in tow on the MTB as well. Perhaps I really need to replace the standard rear skewer with the one that came with his trailer). The microshift front derailleur seems to be working pretty good actually, at least better than i expected it to work. There is some break squek on the front but braking performance was not that bad with the trailer. I will replace them with Kool Stop Salmons at not-too-distant future though. The fenders (they're plastic a bit flimsy looking) work very good. We've crossed a couple of sandy/packed dirt areas as well as some rain water streaming on our trip and my son did not get water spray from the rear wheel, neither did he get showered with fine sand and dirt in his trailer. If you take the wheels off and put them back on make sure to check they don't rub the fenders though, as they are plastic, and the stabilizers (?? the metal tubes/sticks that connect them to the frame) move almost freely on the fenders, they are easy to move/twist.

For what I paid, I consider it to be a very good value. I'd recommend it if you are in need of a decent commuter. What I need now is a decent pair of panniers that would haul my clothes and the monster of a laptop I have to keep carrying to and back to work due to the security (or lack of) at the job site. I looked at the REI brand Novara Transfer Panniers (https://www.rei.com/product/780451) and thought they may be a good value (after my dividends and 20% off), but the bloody laptop still does not fit :sigh:

I'll try to update this as I put on more miles on it.

[QUOTE=Tundra_Man;10568050]I've had one of these on back order and got shipping notice this week. I'm supposed to have it on Thursday.

I am supposed to get mine on Wednesday, will post more details after I ride it.

I got the bike and no assembly instructions are included.

I figured out almost everything except it came with a number of small wood/metal screws and don't know what to do with them?

Could the screws be for the fenders?

The metal screws might be for where the fenders get connected to the fraame at the seat stays and fork, but I have no idea where the wood screws should go.. Sorry

No they have different screws for that.

I was thinking that the fenders slide around and the little black plastic thing at the fenders have holes in them and maybe that is what the screws are for?

You may be correct. In that case the "mechanic" at the PB I bought it from most probably threw them away on mine because my fenders are all over the place all the time.

I have an insight 1 which is what the RS is based on. Mine just didn't come with fenders and a rack. It's a fantastic bike for the price. It's about 25lbs and is well made. The pedals do suck but they do have little pegs on them to grip your shoes and I haven't had any problems with slippage. The only other complaint is the break squeal which can easily be corrected by setting the brakes fairly toed out. One day I might buy Avid 5's or 7's so I can toe-in the brakes again.

I love the bike!

Received mine yesterday but haven't had time to do anything but pull it out of the box. Right now it's sitting in a heap on my living room floor. Looks nice from what I've seen, especially considering the $199 price tag.

The seat is a big old wide gel type. I'm guessing I'll have to replace that with something sleeker.

Tundra, did you assemble the bike your self?

Just finished putting the bike together this afternoon. My son and I went for a short 7 mile ride to test it out. So here are my thoughts:

Assembly was pretty much like any other bike I've put together. The back end was mostly assembled. I had to install the seat post, handlebars, front wheel and front brakes. I took my time and it took about 3.5 hours total. That included adding all my accessories.

The fenders were a bit finicky to get them set up so they wouldn't rub. For the rear I finally had to drop the wheel slighty in the dropout to get enough clearance, which I'll have to remember when repairing flats.

The front brakes took a bit of tweaking before they stopped squealing, but I got them to quiet down. The rears were quiet without any fiddling.

Both deraileurs were spot-on adjustment wise, which was a pleasant surprise. My wheels were true and all spokes were tight.

The pedals were junk, but the web site said it didn't come with pedals at all so I had already bought a decent pair. The pedals look like they could be used to allow people to test ride the bike in the store, but I wouldn't want to put any real miles on them.

By the way, the mystery screws are indeed for the fenders, where the support rods attach to the fender itself. There are little holes in the plastic brackets, but it looks like you have to drill the hole in the fender itself. Mine seem to stay in place just fine without them, so I'm not going to worry about it for the time being.

The Tektro brake levers seem to have a little slop in them, but nothing I can't bear to live with. Performance-wise, they work fine.

I truly hate the seat. That fat wide gel thing is terribly uncomfortable. The gel slides around when you ride which makes you feel like the seat is loose on the post. I'm going to be replacing that very quickly. Most bikes get their stock seat replaced so that's no big deal.

The Performance web site said that the bike came with Shimano deraileurs, but when the bike arrived it had SRAMs. I've never had a bike with SRAMs before. I'll be interested to see how I like them after I put some miles on them. The shifters are different from my other bikes (all four of my bikes have four different methods of shifting, LOL) so that will take some adjustment on my part before it becomes second nature.

As far as the ride quality, I was quite impressed. It was very smooth and quiet. The ride wasn't harsh at all which is surprising considering it has an aluminum frame and rigid aluminum fork. Bumps didn't seem much rougher than my front-suspended mountain bike.

So I bought the bike for $199 and had to pay $30 shipping. Add upgraded pedals, lights, a computer, bell, mirror, water bottle rack and a decent seat and I'll have a total of about $325 into it for a fully loaded commuter. I can't complain at all. I think this was a heck of a deal.

I figured I'd check in with an update after I've commuted on this bike for a month.

First, overall I'm pretty happy with the bike. It rides nices, shifts smooth and handles well. My average speeds are about where I expected them to be: faster than my mountain bike but slower than my road bike. I've put somewhere around 350 miles on it.

The stock seat lasted half a commute (butt wise, not quality wise.) The first day I rode to work I was fed up with it by the time I arrived. I went out over lunch to the nearest LBS and bought a replacement. As I noted above I had expected to replace the seat soon so this wasn't a surprise.

After a week of riding the headset started pinging a little. I figured out that the headset had just loosened up a bit. Tightening it back down fixed the issue and it hasn't returned. I'm sure it was just a matter of things settling into place.

The biggest problem I've had is that this week I broke a spoke on the rear wheel and the wheel went horribly out of true. Not owning a cassette removal tool (yet) I took it over to my LBS and had them fix it. The tech told me that the wheel is pretty cheap and has a lot of flex, and me being a bigger guy (200+ lbs) and loading up the rear rack with all my commuting gear was probably over-stressing the wheel. I decided that $20 to have them fix the spoke and retrue the wheel was worth a gamble.

Well, I lost that bet. After I put the wheel back on the bike, I rode about a block and when I turned around another spoke broke and the wheel went out of true again. So it looks like a replacement rear wheel is necessary. I feel the bike is worth the expense, however that does raise the projected cost for anyone else who may purchase this bike, as you may very well run into the same problem if you're a heavier guy like me.

On a different note, does anyone have any opinions on this wheelset? https://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com...d&productId=27

My wife has a Diamondback Clarity 1 now. I'm not sure how it got in the house but I put it together for her.

The frame is light and seems ok but the quality of components is exceptionally low and those wheels are just about the worst I've ever seen. I'm expecting to replace them this summer if not sooner.

And yes Mavic CXP22 are a very good budget wheelset. Are they really $150 now? I seem to remember more like $100 on Ebay.

I bought this bike three weeks ago for commuting about 20-24 miles round trip once a week to start. I got it on sale for $250 and it was already assembled with the bike rack and fenders.

The first trip I had on it the chain came off. I am a newbie on a bike, so I freaked at first then just put it back on. They told me to come in and get the chained adjusted or tuned, and I did.

Rode to work and back and the ride was awesome! Brakes are a bit loud in the front, and the gear shifting has been a bit sticky though. Overall a great experience, until my second trip to work.

I was riding in when the bike just stopped and slammed on its breaks. The drivetrain completely snapped off and crunched into the chain and spokes. Completely broken, unfixable. I had dropped it earlier on the side and it may have cracked it, but the shifting was acting up prior to the fall. Not sure what happened, had to get a ride in and will take it to the shop tonight for a whole new bike.

Kind of bummed out about the whole thing. Seemed like a great bike, but I think the components are very cheaply made. It's obvious that this is the case as the piece that held the drivetrain was super cheap and it just sheared off easily. Luckily the guy behind me didn't crash into me. I'll report more later if I find out something different. Guess you get what you pay for.

I've been running mine as my main commuter for 15 months now. I haven't had any issues since my wheel replacement mentioned above that happened about a month after I bought it. Still shifts nice, and I haven't had to adjust the SRAM deraileurs since I bought it. I've adjusted the brakes a couple times, but that's normal due to pad wear. Also had two flats, which can't really be blamed on the bike.

I haven't treated it overly rough, but I haven't babied it either. I'm still a clydesdale, and reguarly load the rack down with stuff. My commute each way includes a ride across a couple of bumpy fields, a curb hop, plus a mess of train tracks. Zero issues.

Perhaps my bike is the anomaly. I guess I'm fine with that seeing as it's mine.

I haven't had any problems with mine either. Not even the wheel problems Tundra suffered, but again, I'm not commuting with it even though the initial plan was to. The heaviest use it is being put through is pulling my son's trailer behind it.

The Insight is worth every penny. I have had my 2010 for over a year. It serves well as a utility bike, road bike and commuter. I use this bike every day for one thing or another. Trips to the store, commutes to work, take off the bags and go for long rides, towing twin 5 year old boys all over San Diego and more. I love the performance part of it. If I had to compare it to a car, it would be the new Porsche Panamera 4 door. You get the sporty look and feel, but works for grabbing groceries as well. I have over the past year upgraded just about everything on it as I felt comfortable taking my $200.00 investment and building on it. I still kept everything on a single income family budget. The stock wheels were not fond of the 270 lbs on top them and the rear needed constant truing and spoke replacement. I put some Forte (Performance) Apollo Wheels on it and have not put a spoke wrench on them in 4 months. The wheels were my biggest upgrade. I went with Forte brakes, levers, derailleur switches, rear derailleur and a must for any commuter the Nashbar Trekking handlebars. Now my investment is up to a little over $500.00, but I love this bike. I can keep up with the guys on their $2000 to $3000 bikes without a problem Fortunately, I can keep this out of the shop by doing all my own maintenance. Overall, if you are looking for a good base of a bike, get one of these and upgrade components where you feel it is needed. But, out of the box, this is exactly what it is classified as, a performance hybrid. This is not your Grandpa's Hybrid. This is light, fast and nimble and with a little work is just as good if not better than flatbars costing 3 or 4 times more

I have commuted on mine 3 times. first time I had a flat on the way home. I patched it and it has ridden well since. I bought panniers as well. I sometimes wonder about the durability. I have ridden it commuting a 38 mile charity ride, and camping with my daughter. I have loved having fenders. I bought a child seat to attach to the back for my son but I have not put it on or ridden with him yet. Someday soon.
I commute over the greenway some gravel and mostly paved. I think it rides good and smooth. I am slower than my road bike but I am carrying more weight.

I like it for $249 plus tax plus panniers plus $10 computer from Price Point.
just my $.02

Just found this old thread and figured I'd check in with an update after four years of use. My Insight RS is still going along fine. In fact, I rode it to work this morning. I've got about 3500 miles on it now (swap it out with other bikes in my stable) and outside of my initial wheel issue mentioned above, I've only had to replace normal wear items including the brake pads, rear tire, chain a few times and the cassette once. Still haven't touched the adjustment screws on either deraileur since I unboxed it. Been a good purchase for me.